


The Birthday

by Ailelie, Cinaed



Series: Enduring Legends [9]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, No season 4 spoilers, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-05
Updated: 2011-12-05
Packaged: 2017-10-27 00:04:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/289363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailelie/pseuds/Ailelie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinaed/pseuds/Cinaed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ambrose has a birthday, Arthur spends too much money, and Gwen gives more than she expects.</p><p>Mostly gen with some Gavin/Elle and mentions of Ambrose/David and Ambrose/Arthur.</p><p><em>Monday, December 5 2011</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Birthday

_Monday, December 5 2011_

"Are you sure this is where you want to eat?" Gavin asked, eyeing the restaurant warily.

The restaurant, if it could be called that, was in the middle of nowhere. A light pole outside the place flickered and glistened against the street.

"It's a dump," Arthur proclaimed, holding his thin jacket close around him.

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "Whose birthday is it again? Come on, you won't find better steak tips in the entire city."

"He still considers this part of the city," Arthur said with mock-pity.

Ambrose turned, holding the door open. "Do you want to come in and eat, or would you prefer to stay out here whining?"

"I'm not whining."

Elle bumped Arthur's shoulder as she followed Ambrose into the restaurant. "Yes, you were," she said.

"I offer him dinner anywhere in the city," Arthur said. "And he picks something that looks like it was already old back in Adam's time."

"Nah," Gavin disagreed. "More Brady Bunch than radio drama, I think."

"Stop it," Elle said. She elbowed Gavin in the side. Gavin coughed and winced.

"Sorry, Ambrose," he choked out.

Ambrose turned to hide his smirk.

"Just the four of you?" a woman with a white pixie-cut hair and dark gray eyebrows asked. She was holding a stack of menus.

"Yeah," Ambrose said. "Unfortunately." He tapped his fingers over the top of his messenger bag. Adam had given him Gwen's gift just before he'd left the house.

"Would you prefer one of us leave?" Arthur asked. "I think it could be arranged. I assure you, my feelings would not be hurt." He was still looking around the restaurant skeptically.

"Don't be such a drama queen." Ambrose started following the woman to their table.

"Me?! Excuse me, but who was the one throwing a fit over pens all last week?"

Ambrose stopped and whirled around to face Arthur. "Bic, Arthur. Do you even use ink pens anymore?"

"Sounds a bit domestic," the woman stage-whispered to Gavin and Elle. Gavin burst out with a sharp laugh.

"No, thank god," Ambrose said.

"Though," Arthur said, flashing the woman the same sort of smile he always used when he thought he was being clever. "I've been told that I'm really quite fetching."

"I was drunk," Ambrose moaned, collapsing onto his chair.

"There, there, Ambrose." Arthur patted his arm. "It's not your fault I'm just that irresistible."

"I hate you." Ambrose mumbled into his hands.

"Are they like this all the time?" the waitress asked.

"Unfortunately," Gavin said. He leaned over and blew out the candle in the center of the table as he sat down.

"You learn to enjoy it," Elle added. "It's like having your very own Punch and Judy show."

"He's Judy," Arthur and Ambrose said in unison.

The waitress laughed. "Well, let me get your drink orders and then I'll let you guys look over the menus."

They ordered waters all around. The waitress passed out the menus and left toward the kitchen.

"Get the steak tips," Ambrose said, leaning over the table. "They are the best I've had."

Elle shrugged and slipped her menu over Ambrose's. "I'm sold," she said.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me, too," Gavin said. He tossed his menu onto the pile and then leaned back in his chair, one arm draped over the top of Elle's.

Arthur said nothing and continued examining his menu carefully. Ambrose raised his eyes to the ceiling and shook his head.

"So," Elle asked. "How does it feel to be 26?"

"About like it did to be 25, honestly."

"So what's been the best thing about the past year?" Gavin asked. He asked the same thing at every birthday party.

Arthur snorted. "Like you can't guess."

"You think you know my answer?" Ambrose asked.

"You think I don't?"

Ambrose raised his eyebrows. "Well, go on then. What's the best thing that's happened to me this past year?"

"One word," Arthur said, holding up a finger. "David."

Ambrose smiled without meaning to. "Well, yeah, true."

Arthur pushed his menu onto the pile. "Go on, tell them your big news. God knows I've only had to hear it a thousand times already."

"David's coming for the holidays," he said.

"That's wonderful," Elle said.

"Will we get to meet him?" Gavin asked.

"He'll join our basketball game," Arthur answered before Ambrose could. "Unlike Ambrose here, David can actually play."

"Should be interesting then."

"We'll see."

The waitress brought their waters over to the table. Elle tried to take one of the waters to pass down to Gavin, but reached for one at the same time the waitress was holding out a full glass to Ambrose. Their arms collided and half a glass of water splattered onto the table and pile of menus.

"Sorry," Elle said. She shook out her silverware and started blotting the puddle.

"At least it's just water," Ambrose said. He accepted some napkins and helped pick up the ice and mop up the spill.

"Did you guys decide what wanted to order?" The waitress tapped the stack of plastic menus against the table. Water droplets slid down them to the table.

"Yeah, steak tips all around," Ambrose said. Arthur didn't object.

"And your sides?"

They answered nearly at once, ending up with two orders of fries, a baked potato, and an order of garlic broccoli. The waitress gave them another stack of napkins and left the table.

"Well, while we wait," Elle said, "do you want to open your presents?" She reached down into her purse and pulled out a small, flat box wrapped in the Sunday comics.

"Sure," Ambrose said. "Just a second." He reached down and pulled out the long, thin package from Gwen. "I've got this, too."

"You brought a present for yourself?" Arthur asked.

"No, idiot. A friend of mine was supposed to come tonight, but had to cancel at the last minute. Her hospital tends to forget she has a life outside her internship."

"Sounds familiar," Gavin said. "I'd hate to be a resident. Never get a chance to relax."

Elle nodded. "I have a med friend, too," she said. "I used to always just save her multiple tickets, but now the box office just sets one aside always. If Gwen doesn't show at least fifteen minutes before the show starts, whoever is working the box passes the ticket onto a friend or uses it to flirt, or whatever."

Ambrose twisted his head, confused. "Did you say _Gwen_?"

"Well, yeah, that's her name."

"Not Gwen Smith, is it?" Gavin asked.

Elle turned in her chair. "You know Gwen?"

"Short girl, dark curls? Yeah. She volunteers at the shelter."

"You both know Gwen?"

"Who the hell is Gwen?" Arthur asked. Everyone turned to look at him.

"She's a doctor," Gavin said. "Well, she's finishing her residency, at least."

"We were roommates," Elle said.

"She introduced me to David," Ambrose said.

"Really?" Elle asked. "That's sweet."

"When were you roommates?"

"Last part of college. Her roommate upped and left at the semester. She needed someone to stay, and I needed to get off campus."

"Gwen _who_?" Arthur asked, sounding annoyed.

"Gwen Smith," Ambrose, Elle, and Gavin replied, more or less in unison.

"I can't believe you know Gwen."

"She never said anything," Elle said. "I talk about you all the time."

"Really?" Gavin asked, grinning.

Elle bumped her shoulder against his side. "Shut up," she said, her cheeks pink.

"We should take a picture and send it to her," Ambrose said, pulling out his phone. "Arthur, you mind?"

"Sure. Why not?" He waited for the other three to bunch together. Elle held up rabbit ears over both Ambrose's and Gavin's heads. "Say cheese."

"Cheese!" Arthur snapped the photo and handed the phone back to Ambrose. Ambrose quickly sent the photo along to Gwen in a text, then slid the phone back into his bag. He knew it was unlikely she'd be able to reply until late.

"Great," Arthur said. "Can we get to the presents now?" He pulled a small box from his jacket pocket. "Mine first."

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "Yes, your highness." Ambrose opened the package carefully, wondering who Arthur had gotten to wrap it. Within the cream and scarlet paper was a simple box with a circle around a rounded star on the lid. Ambrose frowned. The logo looked familiar, but there was no way—he opened the box. Sitting within the box was an ink pen.

"Well?" Arthur asked.

"A _Montblanc?_ " Ambrose said, his voice sliding dangerously toward a squeak. "You bought me a Montblanc?!"

"You wouldn't shut up about your stupid ink pens."

"I'd have been happy with some uni-ball pens, or, if you wanted to get fancy, a space pen."

"This is re-fillable," Arthur said. "I checked."

Across the table, Gavin was quietly laughing against the back of his hand.

"Look, I even got your name on it. See?"

Ambrose picked up the pen. He had to admit, the cool weight felt good in his hands. "A. Carmarthen," he read. "You know I'm not going to spend even half as much money on you later this month."

"It's just a pen, Ambrose. If you don't like it—" he reached to grab the pen away. Ambrose twisted his body, protecting it.

"I like it," he said. "It's just too much." He placed the pen back carefully into its box. "It's fantastic, but honestly, Arthur, a Montblanc?"

Arthur shifted in his chair. "I decided to get you a decent pen to shut you up about the office pens, but I had no idea what to buy, so I asked my uncle."

"That explains it then," Ambrose said. "Thank you. It's amazing." He closed the box and slipped it deep into his bag where it'd be safe. "All right. Next up, Elle?"

Elle pushed her package across the table. "It's from both of us," she said.

Ambrose opened the package. Inside was a dark green book with a grenade shaped like an apple on it. " _Guerrilla Warfare for Teachers_?" he asked, looking up.

"Kids are brutal these days," Gavin said, nodding wisely.

Ambrose grinned and thumbed through the book. As he did so, a card fell out of the pages.

"A special coupon," Elle explained. "Three free shows from our 2012 season."

"Thanks," Ambrose said. "This is fantastic. I've been needing something to read on the train."

"That's it? A simple thank you? You couldn't have done the same with my present?"

"They didn't buy me something utterly unreasonable," Ambrose countered. "Thanks again," he said, looking between Elle and Gavin.

"Hope you like it," Gavin said.

"I'm sure I will. Especially the shows. I'll have to get your schedule."

"I'll email it to you," Elle said. "We don't have all our dates yet, but you can at least see what we'll be performing."

Ambrose tucked the ticket into his wallet and the book into his bag. "Now, all that's left is Gwen's." He picked up the long package.

"Oh, yes," Arthur said, "the mysterious Gwen."

Elle grabbed some of the paper on the table and, rolling it into a ball, bounced it off Arthur's head. "Hush," she said.

"You're just jealous that you don't know her," Ambrose said, sliding one finger into the seam of the wrapping paper.

"Hardly," Arthur replied, reaching down to grab the paper ball. He threw it across the table at Gavin, but Elle snatched it from in front of Gavin's face and bounced it back off Arthur's forehead. Arthur glared at her and, this time, launched the ball in her direction. Elle ducked, and Gavin caught it where her head had been. He threw it back at Arthur, who clapped it out of the air. "What is this?" he asked. "Pick on Arthur day?"

"Had to be your turn eventually," Ambrose mumbled as he tore the box open. He laughed.

"What is it?" Elle asked, leaning over the table to look. One of her curls fell into her water glass.

"A wand," Ambrose said, holding it up. "We marathonned the _Harry Potter_ movies and," –he stopped, realizing that if he explained any further, Arthur would never let him live it down—"well, it's a long story. I can't believe she remembered." He held the wand. It fit well in his hand. It even felt a little warm, which was a rather unexpected, but cool effect.

"Well, Ambrose, show us some magic," Arthur said.

Ambrose waved the wand, saying the first spell that came to mind. " _Lumos!_ "

In the middle of the table, the blown out candle suddenly burst into a large, bright flame.

Ambrose froze, barely noticing that the others were likewise staring.

"Okay," Elle said. "That was creepy."

"Did you guys arrange this?" Arthur asked. "Is it some weird chemistry trick or something?"

Ambrose shook his head. He pointed the wand at the candle flame and whispered, " _Nox._ " The flame went out with a hiss. Ambrose dropped the wand and pushed back from the table. "What the hell," he said. "Seriously. What the hell?"

"I didn't just imagine that?" Gavin asked. "The candle lit up and then went out, right?"

"Yeah," Arthur said. "That's what I saw, too. Ambrose, try something else."

"No." Ambrose shook his head. He grabbed some of the extra napkins and used them to pick up the wand. "No, no, no, no, no." He knew he was being ridiculous. There was no way the wand had caused the candle to act as it had. There had to be a reasonable explanation. Some kind of explanation. He dropped the wand into the torn box and shoved the box into his bag. Then he grabbed more napkins, now thankful for the large stack the waitress had given them, and used them to pick up and wrap the candle so that he could figure out how it had been doctored. He pushed the candle down on top of the box.

"No more presents?" he asked. And then, before waiting for an answer, replied, "Good. Oh, look, our food is coming."

The waitress set up her tray by their table. "Are you all okay? You look a little shell-shocked."

Ambrose jerked his thumb toward Arthur. "He bought me a Montblanc pen," he said.

The woman whistled. "Impressive. And here I thought you said you two weren't together."

"It's just a pen," Arthur said, exasperated.

"You two are so cute," the woman replied, placing their plates down in front of them.

Ambrose started laughing helplessly. This was definitely the strangest birthday ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This section was written by Ailelie, and read through by Cinaed.


End file.
